


Silver Wheels

by sadwitchcraft



Series: Memories of House Pavus [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Aquinea has OCD, Childhood Memories, Fluff, Good Parent Halward Pavus, Light-Hearted, Other, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24507658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadwitchcraft/pseuds/sadwitchcraft
Summary: A glimpse into the life of a four-year-old Dorian Pavus.---She had the duck made especially for her son. It was small and beautiful, with little silver wheels. She hoped it made him smile as much as the real ducks had. Then he could smile like that while he sat with her where it was safe, playing at her feet on one of the plush rugs.
Series: Memories of House Pavus [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771555
Kudos: 9





	Silver Wheels

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing Dorian in a roleplay and got...rather prolific. I have been encouraged to post these interludes and character studies I've been writing here. I hope you enjoy. And I thank my friends for not only encouraging me but actively enabling me.

9:15 Dragon

Aquinea and Halward Pavus had a beautiful little boy together. That didn’t mean they had to live together. Halward provided a home for his wife in Ventus, within the bounds of the family estates. The couple only saw each other for social and political functions -- and occasionally in relation to their son. 

Life in Aquinea’s home was different from life in Halward’s. Halward was more interested in Dorian studying and excelling. Aquinea was more interested in him enjoying himself -- even if she wasn’t directly involved. There were benefits to being in either home. Aquinea let Dorian get away with things that Halward would never. And Halward, well, he personally spent more time with his son. Probably why he had Dorian under his thumb more. 

Dorian had just turned four. He held the hand of the woman who oversaw his care the most -- a human slave named Livia. He was too young to understand the intricacies of the society he was being raised in, but Livia had more privileges that other slaves owned by the Pavus family. She hadn't been captured by slavers, or born into slavery. She’d sold herself to the Pavus family to ease the debts of her own.  
He held onto her hand and carried the little wooden duck his mother had given him under his other arm. It had wheels and a string you could use to pull it around after you. Aquinea had celebrated her son’s birthday with cakes and treats, and elaborately wrapped presents. The duck was his favorite. 

The gift was a rare display of Aquinea’s insight into her son. He had no idea at that time, but she spent a majority of her day watching him from the windows of her home. She watched him play. She watched him skin his knee. She watched him eagerly feeding the sleek red-eyed black ducks that glided through the waters of the reflection pool in the front of her home. She wanted to join him. She wanted to hold his grubby little hand and lead him around with her but… the world was a dangerous place. She’d get sick, she was sure of it. And she couldn’t afford to get sick. If she got sick, she could die. Then Halward would remarry, and some other woman would raise her son. It was better if she did it this way, watching him enjoy the outside world in a way she was afraid to. 

She had the duck made especially for her son. It was small and beautiful, with little silver wheels. She hoped it made him smile as much as the real ducks had. Then he could smile like that while he sat with her where it was safe, playing at her feet on one of the plush rugs. She had gotten her wish. He’d hugged her so tight when he’d opened the present. And it had hurt her heart when he wanted to take it with him to Halward’s home.

But she wouldn’t stop him.  
Linia let go of Dorian’s hand to open the door for the little boy. She waited for him to pass in front of her before closing it tightly behind them. Drafts were a concern of Aquinea’s, not Halward’s, but making sure doors were sealed was a hard habit to break once one got into it. As Linia had expected, Halward was waiting for them.

“Dorian!” the man smiled and kneeled down, opening his arms for the little boy to run to him. They hugged tightly. It was such a contrast to how Aquinea greeted her son. Aquinea would be casting little cleansing charms on him in addition to physically scrubbing his little hands. No, Halward scooped him up and kissed his cheek with no reservations. 

“What’s this?” the man pulled back and looked at the toy Dorian was carrying. 

“A duck!” Dorian held it up to his father, “Mama got it for me!”

“A fine duck,” Halward smiled at him and fluffed his thick hair, “did you name him?”

“Ummm…” Dorian scrunched up his face as he thought, spinning one of the duck’s wheels, “Thoos.”

“Thoos? Well enough. Let’s see,” Halward sat down in the middle of the hallway, pulling Dorian into his lap and tickling him before taking the duck from his hands and setting it in front of them, “Shall we see Thoos roll?”

Dorian looked up at his dad with a grin, “Yes!”  
The little boy was too young for his magical talents to show just yet, but that didn’t stop Halward from teaching him, “Here, like this. Keep your eyes on Thoos, and take a deep, deep breath… good. Good. When you breathe out, feel the energy around you… and when you breath in, imagine pulling it close.”

Dorian did as his father directed, trying to “feel the energy” when he breathed out. He felt a little light headed? Was that... what he was supposed to be feeling? He tried again, his eyes going wide when he did feel something. It felt like his foot falling asleep, but all over. He took an even deeper breath in, trying to inhale that feeling. 

Halward smiled to himself. He had timed his breaths with the boy’s, had pulled in the ambient energy at just the right moment… the way Dorian had suddenly perked up and all but gasped told Halward that the child was at the very least extremely sensitive to magical energy. That was good. The union with Aquinea had been worth it for that, at least. 

“Now, hold it in your hands, like this,” Halward cupped his hands around Dorian’s, letting the energy he had pulled in around them pool in the boy’s hands. It was blue-gray, roiling over the sides of their hands like weighted smoke. 

“Wonderful, Dorian,” Halward praised his son and kissed the crown of his head, “and now… we’re going to push it at Thoos. Ready? You’re going to have to concentrate really hard.”

“I’m ready!”

Halward smiled against his son’s hair and turned their hands out towards the little wooden duck, pushing the energy he’d gathered at it. It caught the duck like a gust of wind, rolling it down the hall on its little silver wheels.

“I did it! I did it!” Dorian shot out of Halward’s arms like a bolt, grabbing the duck up and bringing it back to him. He climbed back into his father’s lap and set the duck back down in front of them, “Again.”

Halward was all too happy to humor the boy.


End file.
